Latest / Coffee People Podcast / Samir Benouar Founder of Milka Coffee on the Coffee People Podcast.

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Samir Benouar Founder of Milka Coffee on the Coffee People Podcast. · Coffee People Podcast

0:01
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Now that was smooth. Super easy.
1:38
People get really excited about it, guessing the beans for
1:41
whatever reason, less on this trip because I'm not pushing it.
1:44
But when I do like bigger events, I do it and I'll get
1:48
hundreds of people guessing and they get really competitive.
1:51
Yeah, they want to know the rules.
1:53
Is it price is right? Can I guess $1.00 more, you
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know, one being more like, how do I do it?
1:59
And people will change their guesses based on what my example
2:02
guess is. So I always mix it up, like make
2:05
it simply extreme. And then people panic like, oh,
2:07
I thought it would be something different.
2:10
Why is this person guessing? Like 2000 like.
2:14
It's like, no, just do your own thing.
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It's cool. I know I like the people who
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always they go like, what is the volume of this?
2:22
What is the volume of a coffee bean?
2:24
And then they like do a whole algebra equation and then come
2:28
up with like a. That's the person who probably
2:30
wins. I set these up at different
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coffee shops around San Diego at Christmas time, even when we do
2:35
a big giveaway and then people just put their their answers in
2:38
a, a little jar. But one of the stops is at like
2:43
where the shuttles pick up for all the tech businesses like the
2:46
tech hub and engineers and, and things.
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And so an Intuit tax company is there.
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So all their coders get dropped off at this one stop, this
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little coffee shop they all go to.
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And. They had the most guess, I think
3:01
like 700 guesses last Christmas in like a two week period or
3:05
whatever. But like they would literally be
3:07
like, I had provided these little strips of paper, but
3:11
there would be like full sheets in there with like equations and
3:14
like graphs and like very intense like guesses.
3:16
And they were all wrong. Oh, nobody.
3:18
Got it. They're so far off.
3:19
Yeah, you can guess the ratios all you want.
3:21
You can measure the jar. That's fine.
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Like nobody will ever figure it out.
3:26
Although if I get, if I show it to like a green coffee buyer,
3:29
they're like, oh, it's like this.
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And I'll be like, yeah, right there.
3:32
Yeah, they know. Yeah, I counted them all.
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What is it like 700 or something?
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Like that? Oh, I can't tell you.
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Oh. Man, I have to put my guest
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down. I got to look at it for it.
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Man, I got to get out my algebra book.
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I. Feel like I'm pretty.
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Close. I'm in.
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It's about 2 lbs, maybe a little bit more than £2, you know?
4:02
I'll tell you the next week when we announce a winner.
4:05
OK. So this is just like the show
4:08
I'm going to do. A little welcome.
4:10
And then I got some questions I thought of for you.
4:13
Cool. This is all off of working on
4:15
me, but it's very casual and when it's done I'll put it out
4:21
on the Internet. Cool people will be excited
4:23
about it. Let's do it, all right?
4:24
I'm always happy to. Yeah.
4:26
I don't know. You did you.
4:28
You checked out. This is all the Milka story.
4:29
It's kind of perfect that you came for the.
4:31
I walked around. Is this not up normally?
4:33
No, no, this is just up for May and June.
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There was like a conference, a like a historic preservation
4:41
conference that for like the state of California.
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And so my mom was in contact with those people.
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My sister-in-law is a historic preservation architect for the
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state. She works with the parks, the
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state parks service. And so they just kind of like,
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we're talking to those people, and they said, we're going to
5:01
put this up and why don't you send people through?
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And so a bunch of people from the conference came through and,
5:06
like, looked at the, you know, like, just learned about Milka
5:10
and the history. And it doesn't have much about
5:12
the building, but kind of more about Sacramento history.
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She's Croatian, and so it kind of has some stuff about like,
5:18
you know, Croatian history and then like, obviously cool cars
5:22
and like crazy things people wore in like, the 1930s.
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I'm going to ask a little bit about this, but over here before
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I do. Oh yeah, go ahead.
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Yeah, normally it'll just be you and I talking.
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But for this part, I look right at the camera and I say, hey,
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everyone, welcome to the Coffee People podcast.
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I'm your host, Ryan Wolt. This show is presented by Rostar
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Coffee Packaging out of Wisconsin, my home state.
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You can find them online at rostart.com.
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Thanks to them for supporting the show.
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I'm here at Milk of Coffee in Sacramento with our owner Samir
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Benoir. I said that right?
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Yes, you did. I always get nervous about it
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for some reason. I think it's the extra.
6:00
OU in there? Oh yeah, there's No 3 vowels in
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the English language. So we we've chatted before.
6:07
This is my first time to get here into this historic building
6:11
that we talked about on our last show.
6:13
Yeah, so welcome to the show. Thank you.
6:16
Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you for coming and showing
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up and hanging out here. It's super awesome to have
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something like this in our shop. I like that we shake hands like
6:23
we didn't just meet 10 minutes ago.
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Yeah, this is all. This is all camera magic, baby.
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The first time I've got some notes that I took, but you just
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you were talking about and I'll show some pictures of it.
6:35
But cool. There are old black and white
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photos of your, your namesake on the wall and kind of the life of
6:41
the 1920s and 30s in California. This one over here caught my eye
6:46
because it's the, the benevolent Slovenian Women's United Club or
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something along those lines is pretty close to it.
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But it's a group of maybe 50 women who used to, to meet.
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And that it made me think about how social clubs used to be so
7:04
important. You know, the, what do you call
7:08
it? The the Masons, the Lions, the,
7:12
you know, all the different men's group, the Outs Club,
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Moose lodges, women's groups. We don't really have that
7:19
anymore. For our younger generations,
7:21
those groups still exist. We have chat rooms.
7:24
But. An online.
7:25
That's that's dark. Sorry, did I go too far there?
7:29
No. No, what what it made me think
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of is this kind of like my coffee shop community is that
7:35
like it's loosely my regular shop is loosely the same people
7:40
we go at the same time kind of every day or every week.
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How does this historic coffee building, this coffee shop not a
7:50
historic coffee shop, relatively new in the grand scheme of.
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Things but. In a historic building, how does
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it fit a need in this community for a place for people to
7:58
connect? Well, I think I mean for one,
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just being on bar for the last like 30 minutes and hanging out.
8:08
You see the regulars that I mean, I used to work here every
8:11
day. Obviously I'm the owner, so
8:13
that's to go without saying. But maybe for the last year I
8:17
haven't really worked on bar. I've been working at our other
8:21
shop since we opened the second shop end of 2023 and I still see
8:25
regulars that, you know, I've I know their order guy just came
8:30
in eight ounce cup of coffee. He gets it every single morning.
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I knew exactly black perfect. So it's kind of like, you know,
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that's like the first level of community in a coffee shop is
8:40
the relationship between barista and regular.
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And I think that is kind of a unique thing in society, which,
8:49
like, we don't really know each other.
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We're not like hanging out all the time, but like, there's like
8:53
a familiarity and a comfort there.
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And like, you know, being able to see your favorite barista
8:58
every day is like, it just kind of, you know, brightens you up.
9:02
It makes you feel like, you know, accepted and respected
9:07
first thing in the morning. So I think that's like probably
9:09
one of the most important things that coffee shops in Barista
9:15
specifically offer to a community and to like the world
9:19
at large, you know, and kind of like a more atomized culture
9:23
where people are are hanging out in chat rooms and they're
9:27
Snapchatting instead of like hanging out in person.
9:30
And you know, you kind of still have that like very like tactile
9:35
experience every morning with your barista and your regular.
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And then I think like the second level is just kind of like the
9:42
fact that this is a space that people can come and they can
9:45
work and they can have experiences in and they can like
9:48
we do proposals here not not super often, but like we do a
9:53
couple a year where. Like wedding proposals?
9:55
Yeah, like people proposing to their partner to to, you know,
9:59
and they bring in there, we'll set up a lot of times it happens
10:02
in this nook or happens on the front steps or maybe over in the
10:06
patio or something. And they'll bring their
10:08
photographer and they do a whole thing.
10:10
And sometimes it's a secret, sometimes both people know it.
10:14
So that is kind of a unique thing, that community that we
10:18
offer a space for people to do like life changing events, you
10:21
know, or like we've had weddings here before, we've had bridal
10:25
showers, baby showers, you know, you name it.
10:30
We've done like big concerts. We have 300 people in here
10:33
spilling out into the street to have like, you know, a house
10:35
show. Like it's just, you know, like,
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I think that's the beauty of the coffee shop in general.
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It's just like you can go from that like very small granular
10:44
moment of like barista and and regular to like these big like
10:51
events, life events to these big community events.
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And it's just kind of like lives within the spectrum of, like,
10:57
you know, relationships and community.
11:00
I realize as we're talking that you're taller than I am.
11:04
OK, so I'm going to just double check and make sure your whole
11:06
head is in the camera. Give me one second.
11:08
I'm going to have my forehead cut off my hair dude.
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It's like I did it so well this morning I can't have it be cut
11:14
off. I mean a house show concert
11:22
would be amazing. I was just reading about a band
11:25
from my era of college, I can't remember the name, but who has
11:29
basically given up big shows and they started just doing like
11:32
house parties again. They're.
11:34
All in their like 40s now and they're doing college shows.
11:38
And I, the thing that I remember of the article is like the first
11:41
one was like a couple 100 people and then the next one was 1000.
11:44
And then they like 16,000 people showed up at someone's house
11:48
last week and they had to like shut it down.
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But I think there's this excitement and desire for
11:54
something that feels natural and less processed.
11:58
Like I was thinking yesterday about content, like this is what
12:03
this is and we're creating content, right?
12:06
But I had a really great conversation over a coffee in
12:09
Oakland yesterday. No camera, no notes, no
12:13
anything. And I walked away going, oh,
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that was so nice. Yeah.
12:17
Like to just meet someone organically and have this coffee
12:20
conversation. Yeah.
12:21
So having places that we can do that is so valuable.
12:26
Yeah, totally. And I think that, you know, the
12:29
nature of a coffee shop where seats are so close or like bench
12:33
seating specifically, like allows people to kind of like,
12:37
oh, I need to plug my computer in, but the plugs under you.
12:41
And then that's like a point of contact.
12:43
And then maybe like 20 minutes later, everything set up, they
12:46
turn over and like start chatting, you know, because it's
12:48
just like people, once you break that first barrier of like
12:52
conversation, you can actually like open up and have a
12:55
conversation. And coffee shops kind of force
12:57
people, unlike maybe restaurants where you're sitting at your
13:01
table and you have someone coming to serve you.
13:04
Coffee shops offer that more fluid.
13:06
It's kind of like a bar, right? And a lot of people who are
13:10
under the age of 21 can't go to bars.
13:12
And so it's like we kind of have that vibe, but more wholesome, I
13:16
guess, and more for like everybody in the ages.
13:20
I think I'm nicer to people, to strangers than I am to people I
13:24
know when I'm in coffee shops because I don't have like a
13:27
preconceived notion of who they are yet.
13:30
And so I'm just like, I assume, I think I still assume that they
13:33
will be a nice person. And that makes sense.
13:37
That being said, I was in LA this week buying coffee for
13:40
people. I have a little sign up that
13:42
says free coffee for nice people and at least 20 people said
13:46
like, not for me, I'm not a nice person.
13:48
Oh. My God, no way.
13:50
That is crazy. I.
13:51
Don't know if that was just an LA thing or what, but.
13:54
I could be LA is a it was an interesting place.
13:57
They've got a different vibe there for sure.
13:59
You mentioned that you opened another store in 2023, end of
14:02
2023. You've also added your family
14:05
since then. Yeah, yeah.
14:07
How has a growing family and a growing business kind of changed
14:11
your perspective for the future, and how do those intertwine?
14:15
Well, I think it's funny because like when you, when you're
14:20
expanding, you're like so focused on expansion and like
14:25
not even if the numbers work, just getting it going right,
14:28
you're like, I need to like open a second shot because this is
14:33
going to like, it's just going to expand the business, which is
14:36
totally true. And it has obviously.
14:39
But when you have a kid, you kind of are like, I need to get
14:42
more protective of myself and of my time and of my financial
14:47
resources. And so it's like they're almost
14:49
like 2 opposite emotions, right? One's like, I need to expand it
14:55
at whatever cost. And one's oh, so much risk.
14:58
I'm going to risk it all right now.
15:00
And then the other one's like, Oh no, I need to like make sure
15:03
that I can pay my mortgage, you know?
15:06
So it's like they're very conflicting feelings, but I
15:09
think they're both kind of like necessary, like especially in my
15:12
growth as a business person, because you want to have like
15:16
especially learning how to open the second shop and dealing
15:19
with, you know, people not showing up or like having to
15:24
hire for two spaces that are different and have different
15:27
needs and have different just like bar setups.
15:31
It's like they're just different, you know, So you have
15:33
to train someone for both places.
15:35
You start to kind of realize like, yeah, the I think I lost
15:41
my trainer. I'm so sorry.
15:42
No. No, no, that's OK.
15:44
Well, I. Think of the noises in the
15:45
background. I start to hear like, is that
15:47
well? We're in a real working coffee
15:49
shop. This isn't a set.
15:50
This isn't professional. But yeah, I think I think that
15:54
that kind of taught me like you have to, you do have to like
15:59
find that balance between risk and protectionism of your like
16:04
business. And I think those two things
16:06
actually happening at the same time, having a kid and opening a
16:10
second shop have kind of like shaped me a little bit more as a
16:13
business person than I could have thought.
16:16
Because now I'm like, OK, my time is important.
16:18
So where are we going to spend it and how are we going to spend
16:21
it? And this needs to get done.
16:23
Like something needs to happen for the business, but I also
16:26
have to like take care of this kid.
16:28
So I'm kind of been very way more like more, I guess more
16:37
what is the word? I've been more Oh my God how am
16:42
I forgetting the word basically. I want to say efficient but I
16:46
don't know if. That's yeah, I'm efficient.
16:47
I was thinking of a different. Goal.
16:49
Yeah, exactly. I have to be way more efficient.
16:51
I have to like pick and choose my moments and say, like, I'm
16:54
going to do this, but then I'm not going to do that, which is
16:57
super hard when you're like in a gross face to say I can't do
17:00
that, you know? And so yeah, it's just kind of
17:03
like been a little bit at times, like gut wrenching, having to
17:07
like make decisions between my business and my personal life.
17:11
But I think it's taught me kind of like, oh, we can do this and
17:15
you can kind of keep going and still have your personal life.
17:19
When previous to the kid I was like, we're basically just 100%
17:22
on this business and I don't really have a personal life.
17:26
Part of that is finding good people.
17:29
Shout out to Mary, who's helped me out this morning, and then
17:31
Hannah, Hannah, Hannah. Hannah.
17:35
Behind the bar, who's been running it by yourself all
17:39
morning? We are in a weird kind of
17:43
climate, economically, off air. We were chatting about this is
17:47
kind of the moment where if you've just been like making
17:50
money accidentally, that's going to go away.
17:55
And with the expansion, how have you managed continuing down a
18:01
road of progress and success? Or is there a little bit of like
18:04
when you're talking about risk versus like pulling in tighter?
18:07
Is there this feeling like, oh, no, we need to be cautious now?
18:11
Or is now the time to leap? Oh man, that's a that's a good
18:16
question. Because I think like in
18:18
business, it's it's always both because like sure, you know what
18:22
I mean? Like if a, if a really good
18:26
opportunity presents itself, you're going to go and be like,
18:30
OK, I'm going to do this right? Like you have to because, you
18:34
know, I mean, I don't really believe, especially in this
18:37
economic climate, that like grow or die is a thing.
18:40
Like sometimes you don't need to grow.
18:42
Sometimes you need to just sit still and like work on what you
18:46
have because like your most valuable asset is always going
18:49
to be the thing that's bringing you money today, not something
18:53
that's like theoretical in the future.
18:55
But I do think like, you know, if you have that opportunity to
18:59
to grow even in this climate, it's you should take it.
19:03
And I think like we are like we're going to the other shop is
19:10
interesting. We kind of like are in this
19:12
limbo place where it's not growing like we wanted to.
19:16
And I think part of that is the the economic climate.
19:19
So that's kind of taught me a ton about like just sitting
19:23
where you are and kind of just working on what you have and
19:26
trying to build that. And I think that's kind of where
19:29
you have to be in this moment economically.
19:31
But I do think if we did get like a a good opportunity, we
19:36
would take it still. We're almost in the shadow of
19:39
the Capitol building sitting here.
19:41
You mentioned that like if, if the capital is like doing
19:45
something like you're feeling and you're in the shop, if like
19:47
the staffers aren't, you're feeling in the shop.
19:51
Is this moment, do you feel the energy of the the what's going
19:54
on over there? Or is this more of a refuge you
19:57
think for the neighborhood? I mean, I think it's the other
20:01
shop is more what expressive of what happens because it's closer
20:06
to the capital. So I think that question is, is
20:09
interesting because we've got both.
20:12
In my brain, I have both shops to think about.
20:14
I'm like that other shop. You really truly feel it.
20:17
Like if people launch up to work, it's dead here.
20:20
I think you're, you're right. You know, the latter may be
20:23
true. We're a little bit nooked into
20:25
this neighborhood. We have like 2 apartment
20:27
buildings, 1/3 apartment building going in right here,
20:30
apartments everywhere. So we're a little more insulated
20:33
from that. But like if an event
20:35
specifically is going on there or like something's going on in
20:40
Sacramento, yeah, you definitely will feel that.
20:42
But from the capital, this location, not not as much.
20:46
But definitely, I mean, today I don't know what's happening.
20:51
They knew that I was gonna be drinking.
20:53
My favorite is when I I heard you at or somebody say that they
20:57
wanted a black coffee and you're like, oh, there's someone over
20:59
there giving away or that got free coffee.
21:02
They're like, no like. I'll pay for.
21:05
It yeah, and I kind of think that's nice because one, I'm not
21:08
spending that money, but 2, they are here because they want to
21:12
support your shop. Right, like.
21:14
That's why they came here. It's not just about getting a
21:16
free thing. Yeah, I was just reading about
21:21
coffee in Sacramento. I know it's a big coffee town.
21:25
There's a business opening or has opened called Bot Bar with
21:28
robot baristas. I'm wondering you're in
21:31
Sacramento? In Sacramento?
21:32
No way, I'm wondering. If you think.
21:35
That robots are coming for your jobs.
21:38
No. I mean I think automation and
21:41
coffee is important. I think with the amount of
21:44
people who are like, even we see our applications are, they're
21:49
not what they used to be just from, and I know it's gonna be
21:52
kind of like a touchy subject, but even from like the quality
21:56
of applicants to like with previous training or like even
22:00
having worked like bussing tables or something, there's
22:03
just a lot less people applying who have, you know,
22:09
availability, who have like, you know, just all the hallmark
22:12
things that you need in a barista.
22:14
So I think automation is important for the future of
22:17
coffee with less baristas, less there's less people who are
22:22
going into the the career of barista and if it's even
22:28
possible to really have a real career as a barista anymore with
22:32
like, you know, pay scale and how how expensive it is to live
22:35
in all these cities. Like it's just a hard business
22:39
to be in from an employee and from a business owner.
22:43
So I think automation, if we're talking about it from espresso
22:47
machines talking to grinders to super automatic machines to like
22:52
batch Brewers that have grinders in the top where you can press a
22:55
button and the brew is there. And all you have to do is put a
22:58
carafe in so people can just bunk back there and you can do
23:02
what we do with three baristas, with two baristas.
23:04
Like I think that is a good thing.
23:07
That's automation that we need. But do I think that a robotic
23:12
arm is ever going to replace that conversation that you have
23:16
with your, you know, favorite barista in the morning every
23:19
day? I just think it's like that's
23:21
pretty impossible to replicate with a robot.
23:24
I don't think, you know, I don't think people are going to get
23:27
the same feeling like having a robot chat with them every day.
23:31
I mean, maybe I don't know the movie her.
23:34
I was just thinking like. That well, and I was thinking
23:37
that I got a couple of spam calls yesterday, but I was in
23:40
the car so I couldn't see and I just answered, but I wasn't sure
23:44
if I was talking to a person or not because it was pretty real,
23:47
but I assume it was a person. But then in retrospect, I was
23:50
like, I actually don't know. And that's kind of the thing
23:54
that scares me a little bit. I agree with you.
23:56
I think that there's this, there's a very specific person I
24:01
think about who I know lives alone and is a bit of a loner on
24:04
purpose, but also it's just lonely.
24:07
And when I'm when I was in hospitality, that was the person
24:11
I would try to think about, especially early in the morning
24:13
or when things are slow and maybe I'm not as energized that
24:18
that person coming in to get their coffee or their beer or
24:21
their whatever. This could be their only human
24:24
interaction today. Yeah, totally.
24:27
And how valuable is it to them? And it's easy to forget that.
24:32
I think, you know, you as a business owner, every now and
24:35
again, I would imagine you get a comment on your reviews or you
24:39
get an e-mail or whatever thanking you for being here.
24:42
Yeah. And I think ultimately that's
24:45
the business we're in is connecting.
24:47
Yeah. The coffee should be good.
24:49
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But there's a lot of places that
24:53
have bad coffee that do great because of the connection.
24:57
Yeah. And so that to me is like #1 and
25:01
then number 2 is, is quality. But usually they go hand in
25:04
hand. Yeah, for me, selfishly.
25:06
No, totally. I think that that's like spot
25:08
on. And I think it would be good if
25:11
we as an industry did a better job of telling people that, you
25:16
know, like, I feel like people, you know, like there's a lot of
25:20
people who need that interaction, but maybe have
25:23
never felt that because they go to Starbucks, you know, and they
25:26
don't come to 1/3 third, third wave specialty shop or don't go
25:30
to like a cocktail bar where they can get more, you know,
25:33
one-on-one time with their baristas.
25:35
They just go to these like drink mills that like pump out stuff.
25:39
So I think, yeah, I think that like if we could distill that
25:43
and like use that as our marketing ploy instead of like,
25:47
we have the best coffee, we have 95 point coffee, you know,
25:50
that's great, whatever. Like I'm a coffee nerd, I use
25:52
that shit up. But in reality, in reality, I, I
25:57
don't think that that's going to connect with the broader public.
26:00
But I think that what you just said, it would connect 100% with
26:05
people. And I only say that because I
26:07
think we do like have at this point in the grand scheme of the
26:12
economic, you know, the economic grand scheme of things like we
26:16
need that kind of like where are we differentiated from Duncan
26:20
and from Starbucks and from Dutch Bros where, you know, we
26:27
the extra dollar price tag is that communication and that
26:32
ability to like talk to someone and make their day, you know,
26:35
and people just don't know about that.
26:37
And I think it's such a special thing.
26:40
Yeah, I would point out that when I tried to tip today, she
26:42
told me it was included in your pricing.
26:44
Yeah, that makes me so uncomfortable.
26:46
That's like as a person who grew up in the hospitality tipping.
26:50
I know, but it also made me think, oh, their prices are too
26:52
low. Yeah.
26:54
I don't say that very often, but like, I felt that this morning.
26:57
I was like, they should be charging like another dollar or
26:59
two for what I'm what I'm buying.
27:02
I I really appreciate your time and letting me hang out and, you
27:05
know, do this thing here today. You brought me this sample.
27:09
I was hoping to just ask you about it on camera real quick.
27:12
Cool. Because I've already asked you
27:15
what you drink in the past. You should watch that old
27:17
interview that we did. Yeah.
27:19
Lots of Sacramento. Yeah, lots of Sacramento.
27:22
That one going to the that was like my I'm running for Chamber
27:27
of Commerce president like to send them to that podcast.
27:30
It's perfect. I'm really enjoying this.
27:33
I'm not a huge cold coffee person but the flavor in this is
27:37
great. Can you tell me what I'm
27:38
drinking? So you're drinking an orange
27:41
mocha and it's kind of based off of loosely based off of the
27:47
orange, like Terry's orange chocolate.
27:51
Like they're like mostly during Christmas time.
27:54
My mom, my grandmother, Nona, the daughter of Milka, my Nona
28:00
Georgina, she used to give them to us, me and my brother, every
28:04
Christmas, a milk chocolate, Terry's orange.
28:06
So I was like, I love this, you know, And every year since I've
28:12
gotten them and I buy them myself now, my mom still gives
28:15
them to me. And I was like, how do we turn
28:17
this into a drink? And I'll, well, I mean, it's an
28:20
orange mocha, right? Yeah.
28:21
So we tested it tasted found like the perfect ratio made.
28:26
We make all of our syrups in house.
28:28
So everything is we don't buy syrups from anyone except for
28:31
our Maple syrup because as my dad joke, we don't have a Maple
28:35
tree Outback that we can just tap.
28:37
We got to buy that one. We got to import it.
28:39
But we but yeah, this is a 100% Nicaraguan single origin
28:48
chocolate from our friends at Crew Chocolate, and they're up
28:52
in Rockland, which is about 30 minutes east of here.
28:57
And it is mixed with Demerara sugar.
29:00
And then we have a orange simple syrup.
29:03
And yeah, our single origin right now we have an Ethiopian
29:08
dumurso on espresso. So yeah, you put it all together
29:13
and you get something that's pretty decadent.
29:15
It it's gonna help me through these nightmare memories I'm
29:20
having of collecting Maple syrup at 5:00 AM before school when I
29:23
was a kid. Oh my God, you did that.
29:25
Yeah, that is awesome. I I think that was Maple syrup.
29:28
I think my dad didn't know what a Maple tree was and he was just
29:31
tapping whatever tree he could find.
29:33
He's like, it's got just really excited about it.
29:36
And I'd have to get up and walk around and, like, check the
29:38
little, you know, essentially garbage bags hanging from the
29:42
trees. Yeah, that's so funny.
29:44
When I was 11-12 years old. Yeah, that's our, that's our
29:47
signature. That's like our first sweet
29:49
drink. We started thinking we're gonna
29:52
have just a Maple latte, our only sweet.
29:55
And, you know, within a month we were like vanilla.
29:58
Yeah. And then we started creating
29:59
stuff like the Apple Hill, which is like a spiced apple kind of.
30:03
It doesn't really taste like apple in the simple syrup, but
30:05
it's like a spiced coffee and it's like the best thing in the
30:09
winter. So it's evolved.
30:11
I'll work my way through. I got to drive back through
30:13
Sacramento in a few weeks, so we'll stop in and get another.
30:16
One. Yeah, please do.
30:17
Samir, thank you for the time today, really.
30:21
Appreciate it, of course. That's our show.
30:24
You can head to roastwestcoast.com for more
30:26
coffee context stuff. We'll link to all of milk and
30:30
coffee roaster stuff. Until next time, thank you for
30:34
drinking good coffee and I would say tip your baristas but in
30:38
this case like just buy the coffee and it's all taken care
30:41
of. Yeah.
30:42
Thank you. Cheers.
30:43
Cheers. So that's it, man Cool.
30:45
Hopefully that's all right. Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm
30:48
meander, so I'm sure you're going to have to do some cutting
30:51
and some things around. The.
32:07
None. Yeah.
33:18
Let me see. I was like so close.
33:21
There we go. I'll there.
33:22
Perfect. He's like, Oh no, I set it up
33:25
for me. But I realized he's got a couple
33:27
inches on me here. That's all good.
33:29
We're perfect. That's all right.